Tenements – Scottish Post Hardcore – Interview – Rock ‘N’ Load

Scottish Post-Hardcore sweethearts Tenements took the time to answer a few questions with the old guard of Rock ‘N’ Load, could the old & new get through the interview without there being ……. “a murder”

Lets find out:

Hands off the Hob Nob’s:

I first wanted to take the time and thank you for doing this interview with me today. For our readers who haven’t heard of you yet, can you tell us about yourself and anything about the band you’d want us to know? Who have been your major influences in your writing style?

Tenements is an amalgamation of different musical backgrounds and we channel that in our writing to create a variety of influences. We all knew each other from around Glasgow, came together for our first jam and seemed to just get along and play together perfectly. We’ve since become good friends outside of rehearsal and found that we have more in common than just music. Our scope of influence is massive ranging from brutal Death Metal to cry-your-eyes-out Emo, and, strangely that comes through in our writing. Heavy but melodic.

Let’s talk about what you currently have going on. Any new music or new tours in the works? If you were to say one song of your own perfectly sums up what you are all about which song would that be?

Unfortunately we had to cancel our UK headline tour that was meant to happen this month (14th – 26th November) due to circumstances out of our control, but we decided to make the most out of the time we all took off to hit the studio to record some new material towards an 8 track mini-album featuring our 2 existing singles (“Silhouettes” and “Standing on the Backs of Angels”) along with 5 new tracks and an atmospheric interlude.

Out of our 2 existing singles, I’d say “Standing on the Backs of Angels” most perfectly sums us up. It’s fast, it’s heavy, but the chorus is catchy and the lyrics are meaningful. The perfect blend of our aggression and our vulnerability.

When you write any new music, can you tell us what the process is like? Describe to us what happens in a typical writing session.

Our writing method is fairly organic. If one of us has an idea – whether it’s a sick riff, a glossy chord or even a full song idea – we always consider it, give our feedback and brainstorm to turn the idea into a fully finished piece. Nothing is out of bounds. Any style, any influence can be incorporated. We feel that being that open and inviting creates a really positive atmosphere in rehearsal/writing sessions.

With the music industry always changing and evolving, what are the things you like and don’t like about it? What aspects of the industry do you feel have hurt or helped your career? If you could change anything about it, what would it be?

We haven’t really been a band long enough to experience any negatives, but we see that there’s less and less of a disposable income from record labels to invest in bands. Through efforts in DIY, we feel like there’s not so much of a competitive nature and much more opportunity for networking and interlinking. In our short run so far, we’ve already had the opportunity to work with some sick bands, PR companies, booking agents and venues. We hope to see those friendships grow stronger, as well as more to come.

Do you or any of your band members have any side projects? If so, what are they?

Me and Darren joke about starting a 2 piece grindcore band about pro wrestling and we seem to be getting more and more serious about it the more we talk about it. But currently, none of us have any side projects.

When you’re preforming how do you handle any mistakes on stage if they ever happen? Do you have any stories that stand out to you that you had to make a memorable recovery?

At our most recent show supporting thiscityisours and InVisions, I fell off my drum stool during the long, energetic build up at the start of “Standing on the Backs of Angels” and, at this point, Darren had decided to be brave and run through the crowd to climb the bar. As the drums suddenly stopped, I called for a restart and Darren exclaimed “I cannae get down!” We just counted back in to the following riff and shrugged it off but no one in the packed-out venue left having not enjoyed themselves for sure.

How do you decide which songs go into a set when you perform live? Do you change up the sets or stick to a regular set list? Do you have any covers?

Our setlist changes sometimes but we always like to start strong and end strong with energy and passion throughout. We used to open with the previously mentioned build up to “Standing on the Backs of Angels” and end with our first single “Silhouettes”, but recently we’ve been opening with a new song called “The Fear” which is just fast, chaotic and relentlessly obnoxious.

Since 4 out of 5 of us are a bunch of pro-wrestling marks, we covered Killswitch Engage’s “This Fire Burns” for a while because it was CM Punk’s theme song. Also, after Chester Bennington died, we covered “Papercut” by Linkin Park as a tribute and we feel like we play it so well we’ve kept it as our set closer every night.

If you had a choice to go on any bands tour, which tour would you pick and why?

The one band that reigns supreme to all of us would be Killswitch Engage probably. That or Trivium. That Trivium tour next year with Code Orange, Power Trip and Venom Prison is unbelievable. We’d all give our left balls to play a tour like that. We kinda like metal a whole lot.

Do you have any advice for any upcoming artists? What’s the best piece of advice someone gave you when you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Practice as much as you can but don’t stress. Relax. A band is meant to be fun. Don’t rush the set, pick each piece apart and be honest with yourself if you feel you’re struggling with certain parts or if you’re not feeling a certain riff or melody.

As an upcoming band ourselves, any advice we’ve been given has been taken on board. I guess our best piece of advice has been not to get too drunk before a show…